Whiskey-Punk Blues
Eugene Weekly
1/19/2012
Andrew Hitz
There’s a rough and rugged synergy going on in Portland. This synergy is between two musical factions that you’d never think would combine forces. It blends the grungiest corners of the urban jungle with the “just-don’t-give-a-fuck” contigent of the Northwest backwoods. It’s jug band, it’s folk punk, rockabilly, punk blues, cowpunk and psychobilly. Call it whatever suits your fancy, ‘cause by the time the corn whiskey hits your bloodstream it’ll all blend together seamlessly.
Bands like Devil Makes Three from Santa Cruz, Hillstomp from Portland, and Chet Weise from The Immortal Lee County Killers have helped meld influences that span from Jerry Lee Lewis and R. L. Burnside to Captain Beefhart. But perhaps no group has perfected this upbeat, raspy string twang like Portland’s Sassparilla. Dusty as hell and cranked up for your dancing convenience, the band sounds like it just hopped off a train from some far-away Southern town where harmonicas play late into the night and a jug of home-stilled moonshine on the front porch is denoted as hospitality. Sassparilla is an ether huff, a whiskey chase, an all-out assault of punk-jug slam.
When frontman Gus Blackwell straddles the stage with a steel resonator guitar, apt fedora and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon close at hand, genres collide.
Celebrity Cafe
My Nguyen
1/16/12
Mainly comprised of Kevin “Gus” Blackwell (vocals, cigar box guitar, national resonator guitar), the father and son combo of Ross “Dagger” MacDonald (harmonica) and Colin “Sweet Pea” MacDonald (washtub bass), Naima (vocals, accordion, washboard), and Justin Burkhart (drums), Sassparilla is a rollicking band filled with many a jaunty, bluesy rendition that can coax even the most predisposed human beings to get riled up in a finger-snapping and body-rocking kind of way.
The folksy and deeply resonating tracks on The Darnest Thing, Sassparilla’s fifth release, is perhaps partly inspired by the terrain the band members hail from. The 5-piece outfit based in Portland, Oregon, has managed to produce a succinct piece of work that mirrors the rough and harsh landscape of the grand state of Oregon back in the U.S.’s booming Gold Rush period.
The album cover to the Darnest Thing alludes to this rough lifestyle and no-bullshitting attitude; on the cover is a flower, desiccating and wilting on the stem and emerging like a weed on the bottom corner of the white cover. This nearly translucent flower may humble us to the harsh and unrelenting conditions our forbearers had to endure, while also reminding us of the pure will-power of the desert plant. The umbilical cord that ties us all together is the music, and Sassparilla does a brilliant job of connecting us to those things that are distant and even to things that are relevant to us.
And by delivering to us this image, Sassparilla is able to suspend our beliefs, and by doing so, they are able to produce a highly dynamic piece of work. The tracks off The Darnest Thing vary between bluesy-folk rock with punk-sensibilities, and register between modulations of gritty, raw, and emotively fraught tunes. Catchy and energetic – just imagine them live –the instrumentals would alone suffice as a rocking show, but it will be Gus Blackwell’s smoky and whiskey-warm vocals that will continue to resonate with audiences.
With his attention-grabbing voice, Blackwell’s singing contributes to the vaudeville sound. His soulful approach to singing sends highly gripping images to the mind. But overall the carnival-esques references are done in colorful and masterful renderings. Blackwell’s vocals will, alone, beckon spectators to come and watch.
But overall, Sassparilla’s sound conjures up a grainy-oldies feel of a yellowing photograph. These skilled musicians are able to make life-like character sketches through their resounding lyrics and grim portrayals of the ending and the quality of a man’s life. In “Overcoat” and “Confession,” these two tracks draw to mind the lonely plains of the West, and this landscape really does depict the inner workings of a soul living on the land at the time.
Blackwell’s vocals, though simplistic, makes the tracks on this album compilation haunting like a talisman. It sticks to you and audiences will find themselves looking back to these songs and turning them over in their minds throughout the day.
“My First Lover,” the 7th track to The Darnest Thing, is the most emotive track on the album. It has the semblance of reaching far back in the recesses of memory to recall ghosts and past hindrances. These scars and talk of hidden demons has a kind of religious and philosophically take to the un-reconciled past. The closer, “You’ve Got it Bad,” is also a melancholy recollection of a lifetime.
Sassparilla’s The Darnest Thing is a really great record rooted in folk and with an energetic vibe. Though owning their oftimes disparaging sound, these finger-snapping renditions bear a vibrancy that brings to mind the current greats like Mumford and Sons and The Black Keys. If they keep things consistent, they might just reach the ranks of these predecessors.
Pop Rocket Magazine, Jan 2012
Rating 4 out of 5 stars
The first single off the new album "The Darndest Thing," an 8-song, 35-minute ride from Sassparilla; an indie band out of Portland, Ore. The five-piece's roots music is all over the place, deftly connecting the unlikely but combative intersection of country-blues and punk.
The arrangements steal the show, blending instrumentation that would please both Brian Wilson and Brian Eno. A violin that follows the lead vocal throughout ("My First Lover"). Organic strings far from any pretentiousness dance with a bluesy harp in all the right parts. A tambourine floats in now and again. And all tied to the chewy honesty in Kevin "Gus" Blackwell's lead vocal that sets the pace for bluesy tempos that are all business.
Joining Blackwell is the father and son combo of Ross "Dagger" Macdonald (harmonica) and Colin "Sweet Pea" Macdonald (washtub bass), Naima (vocals, accordion, washboard), and Justin Burkhart (drums).
It's a combustible mix. The aural freefall is sonically shepherded by attentive producer Chet Lyster, who knows a thing or two about layered, communal approaches. Lyster has played guitar, mandolin, pedal steel, musical saw et al since 2003 with the brilliant Eels, who spent 2011 on a world tour. Legendary producer Larry Waronker once likened the Eels' music to "a nice walk in the park, where you're occasionally bitten by a snake."
Those seeds take root in Sassparilla, who master the use of space in their songs. The music takes the listener from a rusty ol' porch to a dark basement to sitting around a campfire to a cramped and crowded bar; whatever their mood.
Sassparilla is part of an emerging Americana Roots genre, which is becoming more widespread than indie, especially out of the Portland scene.
Sassparilla is part of the upcoming generation of American folk groups telling us about us through their prism, exactly when we need to hear it.
KEY TRACKS: "Confession," "New Love," "My First Lover"
NineBullets
1/17/2012
If an Americana band forms in Portland will it get mentioned on ninebullets.net? If past performances are indicative of future results then I’d say they have a better chance than most. I’m not sure what it is about that city but it has found my sonic pleasure vein and keeps tapping it with new bands.
Introduce Sassparilla.
Sassparilla gets filed under Americana but it’s a lot more New Orleans than West Kentucky, and the bulk of its 8 tracks are better fitted for a Wes Anderson film than the latest episode of Justified. “Same Old Blues” just explodes out of the speakers with a 30’s speakeasy feel that immediately brings Gill Landry to mind. The songs on the album possess a lazy, deliberate pace that gives the album an undercurrent of focused maturity that really pulls the listener in, and the closer I get, the more I like what I am hearing. In fact, the only complaint I have about this album is its 8 track, 29 minute runtime. I want me more Sassparilla!
Don’t sleep on these guys folks. If they stay together they’ll be huge fish in our little pond pretty soon. Needless to say, this album is 100% Essential Listening.
1/16/2012
NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
Sassparilla Puts Out the Darndest Album
On one hand, Portland, Oregon oldtimey band Sassparilla mine very, very familiar triple D territory: downtrodden, doomed and down-and-out, with a splash of nebulously biblical imagery and more than a tip of the hat to ole Mr. Waits. But there’s a genuine menace to the music on their latest album The Darndest Thing that sets them a cut above the legions of wannabes.
Even the more stylized, Jim Jarmusch movie-type tunes here have unexpectedly juicy, lurid touches. You’ve Got It Bad, a pretty standard minor-key swing tune, has a cool dobro intro and a moody, neon-tinged Gus Blackwell tremolo guitar solo that trades off artfully to casually apprehensive violin. Fumes, as in “I’m living off the fumes of better days,” has the harmonica and then the reverb-toned guitar wailing in the distance rather than front and center to raise the mystery factor. New Love, a dark, twangy Chris Isaak-style tremoloing swing blues with a gorgeously surfy guitar solo, ponders what kind of “terrible things” could be done with a new girlfriend.
The best track here is the genuinely angst-driven, minor-key Confession, banjo and guitar intermingling to create a richly ominous, reverberating ambience. The rest of the album looks back to a Bukowskiesque milieu: the surreal party scenario of Same Old Blues, “Mose Allison on the jukebox and the crack of a cueball;” Bone Colored Moon, a backhanded tribute to an alehouse “where we hung out our demons and told our lies,” and My First Lover, a she-devil who taught the singer how to drink, smoke, fuck and roll a few smokes for afterward. Fans of the A-list of oldtime bands from the Moonlighters to the Dirty Urchins ought to check these guys out.
By Nicholas Smith | September 24, 2011 at 3:52 am | 0 Comments | Features & Interviews | Tags: American-Punk, Americana, indie-folk, Sassparilla, The Darndest Thing
There’s been a number good acts coming out of Portland, Oregon lately. The town is gaining a reputation for its indie-music scene like Seattle did in the early 90’s with grunge. The most recent band to gather attention from there is Sassparilla—a Portland based indie-band that’s been called punk-roots, Americana-roots, and most fittingly indie-roots—but really when it comes down to it, they’re aficionado’s of American music. Folk music—Americana—has no age and it doesn’t lose momentum when combined with other genres. If the music is truthful there is no way to separate Americana from the ghostly wails of negroes over the Atlantic. It’s the song of alcoholic’s and gambling men and the blood of Indian’s soaked in the prairie. It’s the music that blows from the Rockies to the Appalachians and connects us to the underwear of America. It is the songs that America sings to absolve its many sins.
Very few band’s can conquer the roots-genre now-a-days. They have trouble making the ancient music their own and end up doing covers or forgetting what the music is really about. Bright Eyes’ is an example of successful integration of folk music into the current indie-scene, but because of Conor Oberst’s fierce emotiveness it can be hard for some to relate. The beauty of Sassparilla’s new album is it’s simplicity and simultaneous fullness. It is fully realized and filled out without being overwhelming. The Darndest Thing, is first and foremost a work of Joy. Even when it’s sad or painful it has the joy of a consciously truthful composition.
The first track, “New Love”, has a bit of a dance-hall, jazz-groove to it while capturing the feel of a New Orleans boot-leg era bordello. “New love / you got me falling to pieces,” sings lead-singer and cigar-box guitar player Kevin Blackwell. “New love when your around you make me want to do terrible things.”
The album flows out from the first track with a cohesive dusty but danceable sound. It’s like a band on Bourbon street, sweat pouring down their brow and a girls just broke up with the lead singer, but he was already into someone else. It’s real but not ever pitiful. He might have lost a best-friend but he’s got music to lose himself in and purge his pain.
The second track, “Same old blues,” hits hard with the lyrics, “This one’s for all the lonely hearts and all you resident fools / this one’s goes out to the ones we lost and all the one’s we will lose.”
No matter the subject matter and even when the band dabbles with country and bluegrass textures, the band is able to dodge cliché’s. The accordion on “Bone Colored Moon” keeps the song from being too twangy and yet the front-porch fiddle keeps it sharp and intentional. The lines like “the devil don’t want much but he surely / wants what he’s owed” and the image of “Bone colored moon / child of God passing time” is priceless.
Other notable tracks are “Fumes” which is hard to place in any discernable style and “You’ve Got It Bad” which is awfully addicting.
The band members—Ross “Dagger” Macdonald (harmonica), Colin “Sweet Pea” Macdonald (washtub bass), Naima (vocals, accordian, washboard), and Justin Burkhart (drums)—are all up to snuff with the songwriting and each plays an intrical part in The Darndest Thing‘s success.
Most simply put: The Darndest Thing is an album to buy.
AltSounds
1/17/2012
Sassparilla are a 5 piece indie-roots band, hailing from Portland, Oregan. They're a group of people who definitely capture the essence of roots music, but they've bundled it with elements from other popular contemporary musical genres and created a sound that will caress your ears whilst gently melt your heart. 'My First Lover' is the first single from their album 'The Damndest Thing', which is set to make waves in the music industry.
"Every record we've done is a little different than the record before it," comments Blackwell, the band's primary songwriter. "They're all metaphors for what's happening in my life. So, the early records were good-time roots-punk records. Then death happened, a friend passed away, and other life stuff happened. I had to face the reality that I'm an adult now. Stuff I wasn't used to. And, so The Darndest Thing reflects that."
With a musical cocktail that includes a dash of washboard, a splash of accordian, a shot of acoustic guitar and finishing off with a serving of harmonica, Sassparilla have captured a sound that we all associate with the deep south of America. The folky tones of the instrumentation envolopes poetic lyrics that narrates the simple relationship between the lead vocalist and his first lover. We're catapulted back to his personal history, where simple pleasures were everything. The smokey memories, laced with whiskey and regret is beautifully conveyed, leaving a layer of wonderment as the female backing vocals represents a ghostly presence of the lady this track is based on.
If you're a fan of all things country and folk, then this is perfect for you. It's bursting with hurt, passion, beautiful dancing harmonies between the guitar and the violin and a wonderful vocals. I feel like lying on the couch, with just an open fire in the hearth and a stiff drink in my hand whilst I leave the music transport me to a distant past that belong to the vocalist, Kevin 'Gus' Blackwell.
The Oregonian, Oct 14 2011
CD review: The Darndest Thing
Artist: Sassparilla
Grade: A
Label: In Music We Trust Records
Website: www.sassparilla-pdx.com
Coming up: CD release of "The Darndest Thing," with the Mighty Ghosts and Water Tower Bucket Boys; 7 p.m. Friday; McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 N.E. 33rd Ave.; free admission.
"I've got a hole in my heart the size of God," sings Sassparilla's Gus Blackwell.
And he means it.
The lyric anchors the chorus of Blackwell's "Confession," one of eight dark, edgy and extremely grown-up tunes on Sassparilla's new release, "The Darndest Thing," on In Music We Trust Records. Known in these parts as a raucous roots, punk and indie folk band with a penchant for sweaty live shows, Sassparilla goes cold and emotional on this stellar new album to sublime effect.
The quintet consists of Blackwell, who handles vocals and plays a mean cigar box guitar, harmonica player Ross "Dagger" MacDonald, his son Colin "Sweet Pea" MacDonald on washtub bass, the sultry Naima on vocals, accordion and washboard, and drummer Justin Burkhart.
Sassparilla is well recorded, including their 2007 debut, "Debilitated Constitution," 2008's "Rumpus," and "Ramshackle" in 2010 -- all country-blues tinged outings with a serious punk bent. "The Darndest Thing" could be taken as a departure from that sound. More appropriately, it's an evolution, an extension, of the band's maturation as performers and Blackwell's growth as a songwriter.
For the first time, the band relied on help from a producer, the Eels' Chet Lyster, a veteran of Lucinda Williams' band. The eight songs here total only 35 minutes, but they make up a tight, focused project offering gritty vignettes of hardscrabble life, new love, torn love, regret and lessons learned.
"Fumes" opens with Blackwell's minor-key fingerpicking and the desperate lyric "It's true, I'm living off the fumes of better days." Potent stuff.
The primal beat of "My First Lover" is a lament of contemplation, remembrance and poignant life lessons learned. "Same Old Blues" could have come out of New Orleans, with its jaunty trad-jazz swagger. "Bone Colored Moon" lightens up the mood in traditional folk fashion with delicious poetry and simple melody.
-- Don Campbell
Blues, Roots /LOCAL
Sassparilla: The Darndest Thing
2011. In Music We Trust.
Web sites:
Sassparilla (their site)
Sassparilla (Facebook page)
Sassparilla (CD Baby)
Portland's Sassparilla have strong roots in urban and country blues traditions, and a hardcore street performance vibe. I always know a band will be good if they can nail an outdoor venue, and I've seen Sassparilla clean up at critical events like the Northwest Folklife Festival. No one throws a party like Sassparilla. With voices trained to blast through the din of Portland's bars and street corners, they practically dance with their instruments when they perform. But their new album is surprisingly soft. In a good way.
Sassparilla remember that the blues is supposed to be sexy, and they've refined the formula without being crass or a turn off. They're known for jump 'n shout blues, anchored by the picking of guitar frontman Kevin 'Gus' Blackwell. The accordion helps, of course, but Blackwell's voice, smooth with a nasty edge, is the real key. He can nail a range of emotions with his singing, and his solid songwriting has always anchored the band. You can hear this unsettling edge on the song "Bone Colored Moon," with the chorus "The devil don't want much / but he surely wants what he's owed."
Their lyrics speak of love and lust, jealousy and betrayal, crime and punishment, but their music is for more than listening – if you aren't on your feet dancing, you're missing the point.
[Devon Leger] Seattle columnist
BEPortland
Oct. 2011
By JJ Weber
Of course, the favorite of the night had to be Sassparilla. Any band with a washtub bass is doing something right, and when lead singer Kevin Blackwell plugged in a guitar that appeared to be held together entirely by duct tape I realized Sassparilla has gone awesomely over the top in its bid for image and authenticity. This band has been accruing a widening circle of fame, and they seem to have tapped into a primal desire to combine The White Stripes with bluegrass. The band rocked and hollered and the audience rocked and hollered back. Sassparilla played with heart and rage in equal measure, fierce drumming, vibrant harmonica playing, and a penchant for dashing into the center of the crowd to really deliver a song. Its new album is called The Darndest Thing.
Gary Schwind, Orange County Examiner, Los Angelos Music
If you look at the Sassparilla website, you will see that the band has been described as indie-roots, punk-Americana, and punk-roots. From what I can gather, the punk was more ingrained on previous albums. The Darndest Thing is steeped in roots and Americana.
Take "Same Old Blues" for instance. With the brass and strings, this song has a real ragtime feel to it. If that doesn't constitute roots and Americana, I don't know what does. "Bone-Colored Moon" has a real old-time feel to it as well. This song features harmonica, violin, mandolin, and some excellent harmony vocals. This is a very rich tune that you absorb as much as listen to.
And if ragtime influences aren't roots or Americana enough for you, try this on for size. The storytelling quality on this album reminds me of Tom Waits and Steve Earle. Not to say that this band sounds like either of those artists, but the storytelling has that same sort of gritty quality.
This is one of those albums that you need headphones for. Don't get me wrong. You'll want other people to hear it too, but if you listen to this one on the headphones, you'll get a much better sense of all the layers of sound incorporated on this album. Then, after you have enjoyed it a couple times by yourself on the headphones, share it with everyone you know who likes roots music.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Schwindy's indie music spotlight: Sassparilla - Los Angeles Music | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/music-in-los-angeles/schwindy-s-indie-music-spotlight-sassparilla-review#ixzz1cIR7ZLk6
Live Music!
BY ROB CULLIVAN
The Portland Tribune, Oct 13, 2011
Oct. 14
Gosh darn it all
Portland’s Sassparilla features Kevin “Gus” Blackwell on vocals, cigar box guitar, and National resonator guitar; the father-son combo of Ross “Dagger” Macdonald on harmonica and Colin “Sweet Pea” Macdonald on washtub bass; the mysterious Naima on vocals, accordion and washboard, and Justin Burkhart on drums. The band has a balanced attack to indie roots music, as evidenced by its latest release “The Darndest Thing.” Fans of early 20th century old-timey tunes will enjoy the semi-ragtime feel of such tunes as “New Love” and “Same Old Blues.” It’s good music for rumrunners, craps shooters, G-men and ladies of questionable virtue.
Oct 13. KATU, ABC Portland
Story Published: Oct 13, 2011 at 10:00 AM PDT
Referred to as indie-roots, punk-Americana, and punk-roots, Portland bsed five-piece band Sassparilla may bend and cross genres, but the result is always electrifying, especially on their latest CD, The Darndest Thing. A big departure for the band is album opener "New Love," the poppiest song the band has ever written. A happy, up-tempo song, it instantly denotes that something different is happening with Sassparilla on this release.
Comprised of Kevin "Gus" Blackwell (vocals, cigar box guitar, national resonator guitar), the father and son combo of Ross "Dagger" Macdonald (harmonica) and Colin "Sweet Pea" Macdonald (washtub bass), Naima (vocals, accordian, washboard), and Justin Burkhart (drums), Sassparilla offers one of the most entertaining live shows in the Pacific Northwest.
Ramshackle
Sassparilla
Available from CD Baby.
A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
by Mark S. Tucker
(progdawg@hotmail.com).
Portland's been home to a boatload of emerging and long-time talents, and Sassparilla presently joins the cavalcade, sparklingly rock-folk-rootsy in its instrumentation and bluesy in the lead singer's marvelously laconic voice (no clue who he is: once again, a promo copy and lit with no attributions), a weary encantation all too knowledgeable of the globe's deceptions and heartbreak. Fire Sale is Waits-ian and then some, with a touch of Bill Harkleroad in the guitar department, everything lightened by female refrains in the backing vocals. Barking by the front man just adds the sort of chucklesome ornamentation Tom himself would toss in, alley noises familiar to denizens of the underside.
Mephisto, booze, lorn love, and a bit of the old tongue-in-cheekery make their presences known in this collection of songs boasting some rather propulsive backbeats with intertwining harmonies and melodies. Expect washboard, harp, bucket drums, washtub bass, and other axes more common to jug music, but this ain't jug, Magee, and it's even danceable, but don't for a second image a disco floor. Surprising that, as a good deal of it is dark and smoky, but tarnation if'n you don't git ants in your pants as the disc spins. Hell, even the ballads—Cooling Board for instance—have a swing to 'em.
There is indeed a loose aspect to Ramshackle but it lies not in the presentation but rather a tone so well mastered that it has the deceptive aspect of ease and familiarity to the point of being glib. That's a virtue not easy to attain and accounts for what marks out territory in so few bands, an estate in which subtly loving parody becomes art+. It's right there in the lyrics and musicianship, perhaps best in the aforementioned Fire Sale, but so uncommon that the audient must come to the table with more than a little background. And that term probably best embodies what this ensemble and its music gift the anointed with: savvy……sabe?
Oregon Music News, Mississippi Studios Show review
The crowd thickened as Sassparilla set up to play the second set with fans fighting to get a front-row view of the amazing bayou-inspired heavy rock band. The 6-person group casually prepared their harmonica, banjo, washtub bass, and washboard, as if they are instruments we see played everyday.
From the second they began there was a not a dull moment or a still body in the house.
Ross MacDonald wailed on the harmonica, performing several solos during the songs, without showing any appearance of fatigue, impressing us all and receiving cheers of ecstatic appreciation. Fondly referred to by band members as Pappy, and, at one point during the show announced as the “Dagger,” MacDonald is one of the original founders of the Sassparilla Jug Band, along with lead singer, banjo, and box guitar player, Gus Richmond.
One wouldn’t believe she had only begun playing washboard 5 months ago (when she joined the band) when front-woman Naima Muntal expertly beat the washboard she wore around her neck and torso without missing a beat. Using her whole body as she thrashed with the rhythm. Halfway through the set, her red ringlets began to loosely cascade around her face unable to stay pinned back any longer. Radiating happiness, when Naima wasn’t singing she was smiling, laughing, making faces at the cameraman, and dancing with brand new member, Maura, who performed with the band for the first time that night.
This unconstrained, fun-loving energy oozing from within each member of the band was contagious, the audience catching and embracing the disease. As the fast paced rhythm seeped into their bones, the fans in the crowd were soon unable to restrain themselves from uncontrollably breaking into full-body dance.
Between songs, Richmond dazzled us with his charismatic personality, wooing us with random trivia bits accumulated from the combination of lots of time in an RV and an iPhone. Encouraging audience participation, he asked, “Do you know what a group of penguins are called?” Soon the “did you know?” game of informative facts became an in-between-songs tradition the audience came to expect. When he didn’t immediately offer up a new fact, a fan begged for more, calling out, “more animal trivia!” Unable to come up with a tidbit to share on the spot Colin, the bass player, chimed in with his own piece of trivia.
“Did you know this is my dad?” he said pointing to MacDonald standing behind him, who confirmed it with a kiss on the cheek, winning all our hearts.
Even though they have only been playing for a relatively short period of time, the Sassparilla Jug Band has a very strong following, as evidenced by their ability to draw a crowd. At the beginning of the very dynamic “Do you understand me?!“ a group of women who had secured a place on the floor directly in front of the stage, turned to each other in excitement, one declaring: “This is the best song ever!” During the song, audience members were encouraged to shout out, “WHAT???” along with the other band members in response to Richmond’s incomprehensible ramblings. In keeping with his love of involving the audience, he grabbed a megaphone mid-song and wandered into the audience. “Do you understand me?” he sang in his gravely heavy metal voice. “Yeeeeeeaaaah,” we all cooed back at him.
Earshot, College Radio
Sassparilla make what I would call ‘foot stompin’ music’. By that I mean , from the beginning of Ramshackle right to the end of it, I bounced my knee, tapped my toes and stomped my feet along with the music. Picking up the best parts of folk, bluegrass, blues and country & western, mixed with a healthy dose of the writing styles of misters Cave and Waits, Sassparilla put a lot of work into their songs. They’ve even thrown in a little bit of swing-style jazz into the mix. I know, this makes it sound complicated, but it’s not. The songs are fun, sparse (a washtub bass for cryin’ out loud!!!), and really dark all at the same time. I imagine that the members of Sassparilla wrote the songs for Ramshackle with a live performance in mind and, unlike most bands, they’ve captured the spirit of a live show in the studio. Listening to this album you can imagine seeing the band crammed onto a stage in a seedy dive surrounded by folks ‘in the know’ who are singing along, stomping their feet and dancing up a storm.
Lead off track ‘Devil’ sets the tone perfectly for Ramshackle. It’s upbeat (as in there is a great beat), danceable and you can easily sing along to it. It’s not a folk song, it’s not a country song nor is it a blues song but...that’s what makes Sassparilla so great. You can’t pin them down to a genre easily and while you’re trying to pin them down, you realize that you’ve been dancing and singing along and smiling. Even though most of the subject matter is dark, they still make you smile. ‘Fire Sale’ moves into more of the Tom Waits territory while ‘Love Song’ takes on a little bit more of rootsy swing and a wonderful duet between male and female vocals. Ramshackle is a fantastic and fun record that I know is going to be in our disc player and on playlists for a long time!
By Jason Wellwood
May 18, 2011
Sassparilla
Ramshackle
[Panniculous (2010)]
Mere seconds into the first track of Ramshackle, it’s obvious that fans of good-time blues are in for a good time. Comparisons to The Wyos, the Steel Workers of Montreal, and Tom Waits come immediately to mind, at least in terms of either style or mood, but Sassparilla definitely has its own collective personality, and it’s a strong one. Although the group performs mostly original material, the style is pure vintage and imbued with the infectious spirit of jugband music. The instrumentation, which includes harmonica, National Steel guitar, banjo, washtub bass, washboard, and a homemade drum set, is interesting enough in itself. However, the songs, as well as the vocals, are also solid features of the Sassparilla sound.
The group, originally from Chicago but now settled in the Portland, Oregon region, must surely be mesmerizing in a small club or as street performers. One could easily imagine Sassparilla tying up pedestrian traffic on a busy streeet corner. It’s ramshackle blues in the very best sense of the term.
—Paul-Emile Comeau (Comeauville, NS, Canada)
KSCU
Sassparilla “Ramshackle”
This is how Portland, Oregon, does country. (Admittedly, it would be fun to see how Portland, Maine, does country, as well.) The comparisons to Virginian-era Neko Case are too easy to make, so I’ll let you do that.
“Devil” is like a checklist for this sort of thing. Harmonica? Check. Sing about a dog? Check. Female backing vocals, especially on the chorus? Check
